It is certainly not easy to play against a newly promoted team in the first few weeks of the campaign. And it was proved yet again with Chelsea’s home match against Reading. After a few scares, Roberto Di Matteo’s men ran out 4-2 winners to go top of the table for the first time in nearly two years. It was one of the most exciting matches that Chelsea have been part of in recent times.
The first 15 minutes of the match would have been everything Roman Abramovich craves but without the goals. The goal that was deserving of our play was to come and it was yet again the summer signing Eden Hazard. The Belgian was a constant threat in the match and he got the defensive penalty in very much similar circumstance to the Wigan match. Frank Lampard converted the penalty with aplomb.
However, it seemed that taking the lead made the visitors even more determined to score in the match. They levelled the match with a header from Pogrebnyak just six minutes later. Petr Cech then committed a rare mistake to hand Reading the lead in the match after he spilled a free kick from Guthrie.
Chelsea were left shell-shocked after this incident and all the incredible passing from the first 20 minutes of the match almost disappeared completely, as all the players made numerous mistakes even for simple passes. The crucial moment came just before half-time when Reading came close to getting a two-goal lead, which could have destroyed any hope of comeback for the home team.
The second half was pretty much Chelsea throughout, as the team came out confident just as they did in the first half. The equaliser came from Gary Cahill’s speculative shot, which was put into his own net by the Reading goalkeeper. This gave the impetus for Chelsea to go on and win the match. Fernando Torres scored from an offside position, but these kind of decisions even out during the course of the season.
Ivanovic then rounded off things with a breakaway goal in the final minute of injury time, with Hazard yet again being the creator.
Scorers:
Chelsea 4 Lampard (pen) 18, Cahill 69, Torres 81, Ivanovic 90+5
Reading 2 Pogrebnyak 25, Guthrie 29
Team Line-ups:
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech, Ivanovic, Cole, Cahill, Terry, Ramires (Oscar – 57′ ), Lampard, Mikel (Sturridge – 68′ ), Hazard, Torres, Mata (Meireles – 84′ ).
Reading (4-4-2): Federici, Gunter, Pearce, Gorkss, Harte, Karacan (Le Fondre – 71′ ), Leigertwood, McAnuff, Guthrie, Pogrebniak (Hunt – 77′ ), McCleary (Robson-Kanu – 86′ )
Next Match: Chelsea vs Newcastle United, 25th Aug, 17:30 BST
